When one of my Vistage Members asked me to look at his website’s new landing page, we got focused on describing his competitive advantages in short clear phrases. He was struggling.
As Mark Twain* said, “I would have written a shorter letter if I had more time.”
I stopped the Vistage Member and said: tell me in 30 seconds what are 3 things I do well as your Chair?
Immediately he said:
- You are a great listener.
- You hold us really accountable.
- You synthesize information and give it to us in pieces we can apply in our businesses.
JUST ASK YOUR CUSTOMERS!
I returned the favor and told him the top 3 things I believe his company does well. Then, I pointed out that I am not his customer. He now plans to ask 5 customers the same question.
Why aren’t we asking this question more? If we know what our customers appreciate, we will double down on doing more of that. How about our peers, our subordinates and our bosses, if you have one?
If you want to find out what you could do better, I’m sure they would tell you that too. Just this once, don’t ask them that. Listen carefully to what they say you do well. Ask them to give you an example so it will stick with you. Then think how you can extend that to be even better.
With AI’s humble assistance, you can go further without paying for outsie expertise Ask what the best companies in your space do extremely well. See if it matches your understanding of the space. Use AI to put some added juice into your presentation.
Have fun making clearer, better deferentiators pop from the page.
*Originally said by French philospher Blaise Pascal.
Illustration courtesy of http://pushandempoweryou.com/.com